Wild Fate
by HalosMadeOfSummer
Summary: Josephine Swire, part of Dumbledore's Army, walks in blindly to the Ministry of Magic with one mission - to save a man she has never met. But in an unexpected turn of events, she gets to know this man better than she had ever thought she would. AU SB/OC, Time Travelling Angsty Adventurous Romance! :) Please read and follow if you like it, I will update as regularly as I can... :)
1. Chapter 1

ONE

The air was cool as it lapped against Josephine Swire's face. It surged through her hair, pulling apart curls as gently as an over-protective mother. Her fingers felt frozen into place, clamped against the rippling neck muscles of thin air. Luna sat sidesaddle behind her, jostling only slightly on the bony rump of the thestral. Josephine surely had an over-active imagination, but flying seemingly on nothing as the Thames coursed below them was beyond her.

The powerful wings threatened to throw her off the beast as a bit of bile was driven acidly into her throat. Despite all this, worrying thoughts raged in her mind. What if they were too late? How would they even find him? The darkness gathered around them.

Suddenly the thestral dropped a few feet below her and she was suspended before she landed roughly back, her stomach flopping sickeningly. There was a muffled shriek from Hermione on the thestral in front of her as it headed towards the ground too. The air around them seemed to thicken as they approached the bright lights of London. They picked up speed. Josie's legs clamped around the sides of the thestral. They plunged towards the pavement, sending her forward a few inches, and as it seemed she would fall straight off the front of the beast, she pressed her eyes shut. She knew the ground was close, and she braced herself for a rough collision.

There was a short clipping noise as the feet of the thestral hit the ground. They landed as lightly as a shadow. Josephine felt all her muscles relax against the beast and her hair finally swished forward, sent into crazy angles from the flight. Luna had already slid gracefully off the creature, and as Josephine looked up, Luna took her hand and helped her off the beast.

"Never again," she heard Ron say, a way off. He had toppled off his thestral and lay sprawled on the concrete. He said some other things along those lines, but Josephine stopped listening. She was just glad to have solid ground underneath her feet.

She hitched up her trousers and gathered her jersey around her. It was a cold night, but that was the least of her worries. Thinking about what she was about to do made her shiver. The only thing that kept her on track was Harry's apparent confidence. As the group re-collected, Harry led them to the red telephone box and held open the door for them. They hesitated, but then one by one dutifully squashed in.

The Atrium was completely empty. "The Ministry of Magic wishes you a pleasant evening", the almost amused female voice rang out. The doors opened and Harry and Luna toppled out of the box. The others picked their way around them and waited for Harry's order. Josie got out her wand from her back pocket and twirled it nervously in her right hand. She looked around at the gleaming statues. The sounds of the Atrium were haunting. It was quiet, too quiet, in Josephine's opinion, and the soft noise of water falling over the metal robes of the wizard and witch echoed around the hollow room.

"Come on," Harry said, almost silently. The group travelled quickly, and the trip was punctuated by Harry's almost constant insistence that they don't come with him. The group rallied each outburst. Eventually they came to a large, circular room. The group looked around, tensely awaiting something, anything, to happen. Josephine half expected deatheaters to come out of every door surrounding them, capturing them before they could do anything to save Sirius. She had not met Sirius, but knew of him. He was a good man, and Harry trusted him. The group huddled in the middle, and suddenly the walls started to move. They picked up speed and the room was rotating around them. It was completely disorienting, and the blue-flamed torches burned patterns in Josephine's eyes as they spun around.

As the room stopped reeling around them, Josie had her first look around. All the doors were identical. She could not tell one from the other, let alone which one they came through. Again, Dumbledore's Army deliberated, and decided in the end that they should split up. Josie was silently disagreeing with this idea, but she assumed that Harry would know best, having battled the dark lord himself on numerous occasions. She wouldn't admit it to the others, but the dark, shining tiles of the Department of Mysteries were freaking her out, and she felt afraid. She was paired up with Neville Longbottom and they chose a door to Josephine's right.

Each group; Herself and Neville, Ginny and Luna, Harry, Ron and Hermione each stood in front of a dark, ominous door of their own. They would look around, and then return to the room and report back. That was the plan, anyway. Neville's hand hovered over the polished silver knob, and it shook as Harry wished them luck.

"It'll be all right," Josephine said quietly to Neville. It was half to reassure herself, but no-one needed to know that. They turned the door knobs, and Dumbledore's Army marched loyally into the unknown.


	2. Chapter 2

TWO

The room that Neville and Josie entered was unlike any other she had seen. There were shelves that reached up to the unbelievably high ceiling, made of some gloomy dark material that Josephine couldn't place. They rised out over the pair, almost hanging over them. There were blue-flamed torches, just like in the circular room, which were placed every two metres or so along the shelves. The most intriguing thing about the room, however, was what sat on the shelves. Glowing metal time turners of all sizes were displayed along every surface, which made for almost no shadows in the room. Josie heard Neville whistle softly beside her, and she smiled at the spectacle.

They started walking along one of the aisles, necks craned to look at all the inscriptions on the time turners. The aisle they walked along was coded "C", and Josie saw that every time turner had a number. They followed the lines of the shelves and she saw numbers ranging from 302 to 945. This definitely was the Department of Mysteries. They had travelled for about two minutes when Josie decided this was enough investigation and turned to suggest to Neville that they met the others back in the circular room.

However, when she turned around, Neville was nowhere to be seen. She was tempted to call out, but remembered what Harry had said about being as quiet as possible. She ran quickly back along the aisles, but didn't see him.

"Neville!" She allowed herself. "Longbottom, you arse, get back here!" She whispered loudly down all the junctions between shelves. She was starting to panic, and ran down one of the other rows, telling herself that nothing had happened to him, that he had just wandered off. She turned a sharp corner and ran into something solid. She fell backwards, her wand skidding off down the smooth tiled floor. Josephine tried to gasp air back into her lungs as she propped herself up on her elbows. She looked up and saw a shadowy figure standing over her.

"_Malfoy_?" She exclaimed breathlessly, sitting up. Her heart thudded against her chest. Draco Malfoy stood tall before her, his wand pointing defiantly toward her chest. She quickly got up and stepped back. His face was twisted, his eyes dull. Josie didn't know what he was seeing, but it wasn't her.

"You don't have to do this," Her voice came out softer and more feeble than she had hoped. She didn't know what he was capable of, and didn't want to find out.

"Yes, I do," His voice was so soft she had to strain to hear it. "I do." He was sad, desperate. He looked like he was on the brink of breaking down. His hair was disheveled, not slicked back like Josie was used to seeing, and he looked like he had been wearing the same robes for a week. He kept glaring at her, his wand still pointed, not moving from his original spot. Josephine took this opportunity to slowly pace back to try and grab her wand.

"No!" He cried out in a strangled voice. There was a flash of light past her eyes as he cast a wordless spell to skid the wand further away from her. There were footsteps. She heard them coming closer. "Neville!", Josephine shouted, no longer caring whether anyone heard. "Neville, I'm over here!" She bellowed, her eyes not straying from their stare into Draco's.

"Draco, darling! Where are you? Stop playing with your food!" She heard the cruel, shrill call of a voice she recognized. Bellatrix Black. Those were the footsteps. Not Neville. She was alone.

"Don't do this!" Josie told him in a last attempt. Suddenly he whipped his wand arm back. She thought that this was it, that he was going to kill her. She shielded her eyes, but instead of the shouted curse, the flash of green light she was expecting, there was a crash at her feet. She looked down to see shards of glass scattered on the floor, the small evidence of a vial of potion being smashed there. The potion itself was dark purple, oozing out from the splatter in the middle at the consistency of maple syrup… It was smoking, and time slowed. Josephine heard the footsteps coming closer, and she felt lightheaded.

Draco looked at her with his haunted eyes, and the smoke whirled around her brain as she inhaled it. She felt herself tipping, her feet stumbling, and her shoulder hitting the ground with a thump. She did not feel any pain, but she knew it was there. Josie saw Draco's shiny black shoes walk towards her, and his knee close to her face as he knelt down. She was in and out of consciousness as he put something around her neck, something cold and heavy. The footsteps were coming closer, except now they were louder, reverberating in Josie's brain like the heavy thump of some sick rock music. Her senses were heightened, and she closed her eyes. There was a cranking noise similar to a grasshopper's song as it's rhythm looped once… twice… Her mind went foggy and suddenly she heard nothing more.


	3. Chapter 3

THREE

It felt like her brains were sloshing around in her brain outside of her own free will. She groaned with the throbbing pain and tried not to move her head too much. Josephine slowly opened her eyes and blinked a few times. It felt like her eyes had completely dried out and the inside of her lids were sandpaper.

"Ah, I'm glad you're awake," A masculine, but gentle voice said from across from her. She looked up to see a man who was obviously pretty well built back in the day. Now, however, his belly strained his work-shirt, and the state of his desktop showed that he liked to indulge in a donut or two. His mustache covered most of his top lip, and his stubble showed he'd had a busy time at the office. There wasn't much more observation on Josie's part to presume that this man was a cop. However, his face was kind and his eyes were as soft as his mouth stern. There was a name label on his desk that said "Chief Inspector Knop".

"So, to what do I owe you the pleasure, Mr. Knop?" Josephine said hoarsely as she took in the rest of her surroundings. She tried to look casual – maybe they hadn't found out there was more than just one stray teenager running the halls of the esteemed Ministry. There were two other men standing straight as planks on either side of the first man, hands clasped tightly together and gazes held firmly above Josie's head.

"Actually, Annabelle Knop is my boss," He said with raised eyebrows. He sat up a bit and got comfortable in his chair, "I'm Inspector Kalt. Darius Kalt. I will be filling in for her as she has some more important business to conduct elsewhere. Now, I'm really sorry about the precautions-" Josie looked down and realized that looped around her waist and upper arms were several lengths of extremely strong-looking rope. "-I would prefer life without them, but alas, it is protocol." She grunted, suddenly feeling uncomfortable.

"What I would like to know, is how a mere teenager like yourself could be found in one of the most protected rooms in the Ministry of Magic?" So they hadn't found the others then. The inspector looked expectantly into the girl's eyes. As Josephine looked for an answer, she glanced uneasily at the two men standing guard.

"Uh, Hayden, Boyce!" Inspector Kalt reprimanded. He whistled short and sharp and nodded his head toward the door behind me. They both jerked into action, like tin toys that had been left on the shelf for a long time. The door was about to creak closed when I heard one of them say, "Actually, sir, it's Harrows… Lance Harrows."

Once the door closed, Kalt snorted. "What sort of ninny would name their child 'Lance', anyway?" From that point on, Josephine liked him. But liking is a far leap from trusting.

"Well, the truth is…" Josephine stalled, "My dad works here. I came with him to work, but then I… uh, fainted." She ended lamely. She was usually quite good at lying, but the stare that this man gave her was extremely disconcerting.

"The truth, huh?" He said disbelievingly. "So, humour me here. Your dad… took you to the Department of _Mysteries_?" Josephine closed her mouth and went quiet.

"Listen, kid, uh… what's your name?" The inspector stopped mid-thought. "Josephine," she supplied. Surely first names couldn't do anyone harm. "Josephine. If you don't tell me what happened, I can easily give you a truth potion to ensure your honesty… perhaps infused with a bit of tongue-loosening serum, for good measure." He threatened smoothly.

"That won't be necessary," She said quickly. "I mean, my dad really _did_ work at the Ministry…"

"Did? Well, now, hang on a minute." Kalt interjected, conjuring his magic quill to write down my expected confession. "Inspector Darius Kalt, 18th of June, 1975", he dictated, and the quill started scribbling madly.

"Wait!" Josephine launched herself forward, the rope catching her painfully against her arms and stomach. Something was not quite right. "What did you say?" She almost hissed.

"Uh, Inspector Darius Kalt?" The man said, confused.

"No-no, no, after that!" Josie exclaimed, impatient.

"18th of August, 1975…"

"1975!" She cried. "What the hell?!" She fell back against the back of her chair and demanded an answer from the man. Surely he was delusional. "It's 1995, for Merlin's sake! Not 19-bloody-75!" But suddenly she remembered, and everything made sense. The heavy object around her neck, that cold metal against her skin… "Merlin's beard!" She wailed softly. A time-turner.

Meanwhile, a very confused mustachioed man sat, looking at her with an extremely worried look. "1995, you say? But that's…"

"Twenty years from now," Josephine said miserably.


	4. Chapter 4

FOUR

Josephine told the man everything; uninterrupted and ending with how Draco had found her and forced her through the fourth dimension 20 years back in time. 20 years. Josie chewed it around in her brain. She would never see her mother again… Max, her brother… her friends. Suddenly she felt immensely alone. Especially after what happened to her father. The previous year, or rather, 19 years from now, her father would disappear. It was at the Quidditch World Cup, and they were back at the tent celebrating Ireland's victory.

There was late night hot chocolate prepared and Josie, her father and her brother crowded around a small bonfire that some of Max's friends had created. Mr. Swire had infused all of their hot drinks with some of his prized firewhiskey, as he had decided that Josephine was old enough to have some. And why not, on such a momentous occasion? Mrs. Swire would have never approved, which is why it was fortunate that she was not present.

They made jokes, as most of the older friends around the bonfire were surely drunk. Josie remembers this fondly just before the few hours of chaos that ensued – she sat silently, watching them all, surrounded by laughing, warm faces. Perhaps if she stayed quiet, they wouldn't tease her for being younger and banish her to the squeaky bed she would sleep in inside the tent. Perhaps they wouldn't notice that she didn't quite belong. Mr. Swire sat with his side against Josephine's, and she had never felt so warm.

"What a life, aye?" Her father said privately to her, nudging her with his shoulder. In many ways, this was the best and worst night of her life. As one of Max's friends was in the middle of his infamous Japanese Golfer Joke, their surroundings seemed to explode with noise. From somewhere far toward her right, Josie heard screams. All hell broke loose, almost literally. There was a terrifying swarm approaching them – the dark cloaks and cold, expressionless masks of the deatheaters. There were people being levitated and tortured, with screams of insane laughter shrilly racing through the air. It was the sound most opposite as possible to her dad's low, grainy laugh from a few minutes ago.

Josephine was transfixed to the spot. She heard her father shout at Max to get themselves away, and Max dragged her away to safety as quickly as he could. He wasn't quick enough however, and engraved into her memory was the sight of her dad – trying to help fight off the deatheaters, forever the bravest Gryffindor in Josephine's eyes. But bravery didn't ensure survival, and she saw him being levitated, and just before they turned the corner into the woods, him being thrown aside like a mere object. That was all he was to them, an object. No one knew he was Josephine's dad… her beloved hero. He landed with a thud and a loud shout. She never saw him again. In that way, it was also fortunate that Mrs. Swire was not present that night.

Josie found herself crying, crumpling in on herself over the chafing confines of the ropes. Her chest felt hollow, as if someone had just taken away all that made her human. She struggled to get breaths back into her body and she looked up at Inspector Kalt. The man was a mixture of sympathy, sadness, and general awkwardness.

"Well," he said, deafeningly quiet. "Boyce! Hayden!" He shouted out toward the hallway. Josephine was unsure whether he purposefully god the surname wrong just to annoy the poor boy, or whether he genuinely just had an incredibly porous memory. Either way, she gave out a small snort of laughter and sniffed. The inspector gave the order to release Josephine from the ropes and she rolled her shoulders. There was a box of tissues suddenly waved under her nose and she looked up to see Kalt hovering expectantly.

"Thank you," Josie said, trying to regain her usual confident demeanor as she took the box from his hands. She blew her nose and cleaned her face of tears.

"Now… uh, since you're clearly innocent, there's only one thing to do," He said finally.

"What's that then?" Josephine said, her voice thick.

"Release you," He replied simply.

"Surely you aren't just going to…" She didn't finish her sentence, imagining herself being kicked out into the wider world. She definitely wasn't ready for that.

"No, no, of course not. I'm sure that your familiar Headmaster, Albus Dumbledore would gladly accept you back into Hogwarts with the right cover story," He said swiftly, waving about his right hand.

"Surely I will," Josephine suddenly heard from behind her. She turned around and saw a long-bearded man standing majestically in the doorway of Chief Inspector Knop's office. He looked slightly younger, with less wrinkles around his eyes, and his hair was less white and more of a greyish variety, but indeed, this was the one and only Albus Dumbledore. Josie let out all the air in her lungs in a relieved sigh. Finally, a little familiarity in this new, alien world.


	5. Chapter 5

FIVE

Josie did not know nor care how Dumbledore had gotten here so quickly, but she suspected it was something to do with the portraits in his office. It seemed Dumbledore was always the first to know everything. After he had inquired about certain details of Josephine's travels, her cover story was discussed.

She was still Josephine Swire, halfblood. Her mother was just an ordinary muggle, but her father was a wizard. The catch was that her father had died when Josephine was very young (the emotions of that situation wouldn't be too hard to duplicate, Josie thought dryly), and her mother resented her for having the same gift as her father, for her brother was merely a muggle also. Therefore, on the day that Josephine turned eleven, all Hogwarts letters were hidden away from her and her mother secretly sent the school a declination response.

From then on, her mother was unusually harsh with her, her brother was the favourite, and she was the freak who no one wanted. Eventually Mrs. Swire turned to abuse and Josephine ran away from home at the age of twelve. She went to live with her wizard uncle, brother of her father, Gerard Swire, who homeschooled her until that year, when she turned fifteen. At that point, the school realized the situation and they accepted her in for her fifth (or rather, first) year of education at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry.

In Josie's opinion, this seemed a little bit too complicated. When she voiced her concerns, Dumbledore merely pointed out that if she said she transferred from Beauxbatons Academy, students would be disbelieving because Hogwarts doesn't accept transfers. Josephine also added silently that she also didn't have a remotely French accent.

Josephine said her goodbyes and thank you's to Inspector Kalt, and went with Dumbledore to the foyer, where they promptly apparated to Diagon Alley. She looked around and, to her surprise, found that it looked almost identical to how it looked in her own time. The buildings stood impressively tall on either side of the bustling street, and the colours were still delightfully garish.

"Now, since you merely have the clothes on your back, I assume you might want to buy some new ones. Your wand did not make it on your journey?" Dumbledore asked curiously.

"No, it didn't," She replied.

"So it seems you have quite the shopping trip to complete," He regarded her with twinkling eyes and a raised eyebrow. He reached into the fold of his robes and brought out a bulging leather sack of wizard money.

"I'd like to be modest and say that this isn't necessary…." Josephine said as she gratefully took the sack of coins, "But it really is!"

"Quite. Now, I'm sure you'll pay me back in tuition fees in twenty years or so, so this is the least I could do. I should be off. Minerva organized one of those dreaded staff meetings, and she'll scratch my face off if I don't make it on time." _Quite literally_, Josie thought. "This evening at half past five I will send someone to apparate you back to Hogsmeade. You are to meet them in front of the Leaky Cauldron." At this point, Josephine was still curiously looking at her surroundings. There was a Nimbus 1001 in the display of the Quidditch shop.

"Amazing," she breathed, in awe. She turned around to inquire Dumbledore about it, but she was alone on the street, surrounded only by the hurried crowd. Josephine suddenly felt elated. She was left to her own devices! Her favourite kind of alone. Her first stop was Ollivander's Wand Shop. It was much similar to her first visit there, in the fact that the old shopkeeper was somehow still old, and the piles of wand boxes towered over the customers below, almost quivering in anticipation.

The most interesting thing though, was that she did not receive the same wand. Her previous one had been a nine-and-a-half-inch cedar wand with a dragon heartstring. The one that Ollivander had offered her now though, was an eleven-inch elm wand with a phoenix feather center. Josephine pondered on what this meant for a while, distracted with the new weight of the longer wand in her hand. After getting new school robes and books, Josephine decided it was time for a little clothes shopping.

The styles of the time suited Josie fine, as long as she avoided the flare pants. She bought the basics in muggle London, and headed back to the Leaky Cauldron, wondering who would be there to escort her back to Hogsmeade. She was grateful for small blessings – doing normal, mundane tasks brought her head back to earth.

As she approached the doors of the popular wizarding pub she saw a middle-aged woman standing under the arch. She checked the time with her new wand. She was still ten minutes early. The woman's dark hair was drawn back severely into a bun and her pink lips were pressed into an impatient scowl. As soon as she caught sight of Josephine, she smiled a little bit and walked toward her.

"Hi," Josie acknowledged.

"Miss Swire, I presume. I am Professor McGonagall. Professor Dumbledore instructed me to meet you here," She said clippingly. Before anything else could be discussed, McGonagall took her hand and they disapparated.


	6. Chapter 6

SIX

It was the month before the school year commenced, and Josephine had the castle virtually to herself. Professor McGonagall had led her cordially to the Gryffindor Common Room, as there was no point in sorting her again. Even though she knew very well where the common room was, she was grateful for the company and politely thanked her as she took her leave.

Josie woke up in the early hours of the afternoon the next day, and upon getting out of her bed, fell promptly over the shopping bags she had dumped there the night before. She groaned and rolled over to her back. She lay there for another 5 minutes, staring up at the wooden ceiling and considering her life. She hoped that when her dorm mates arrived that they wouldn't question her too much on her history. She knew the cover story well enough, but was still nervous about staying believable.

She had discussed with Inspector Kalt and Professor Dumbledore the chances of her travelling back to 1995. They had come up with nothing – time turners had not been invented yet, and the time turner that Draco had sent her back with hadn't come with her. Josephine and the two men threw around theories with this, and decided that since Josie had not been the one to turn the magical trinket, it would be natural that it stay behind with the turner.

Josephine was not sure how she felt about everything. Sure, she felt terribly sad about leaving behind her family and her few friends… but maybe this was a fresh start for her. She had always been some sort of outcast in her previous life, as a bookworm and artist. Her brown hair was never obedient to her command, and sat in unruly curls around her face. These things combined with her short fused temper had earned her more than a few judgmental looks from her peers.

She bit her lip as she contemplated this. Things would change. Perhaps in this more adventurous generation she would fit in more, and find a place where she belonged. For the rest of the day she organized all of her new clothes into a suitcase that was supplied by the school, and stacked her schoolbooks underneath her bed, taking occasional breaks to the Kitchens, the entrance of which she had learned from Harry.

The next few weeks went quickly for Josephine. She explored the castle, and got to know it again, like a friend she hadn't visited in a while. She was consumed in her own thought, as she realized that Harry's parents would be in the same year as her. She had to put that in the back of her mind. She could not think about the future… her past. It would only mess up her view on the world around her and probably blow her cover. She was a new person now.

The dinner feasts were delicious as ever, and she ate with the staff in the Great Hall. She wondered if they were always present a week before the students arrived, or if they were there for her benefit. She decided on the previous. Either way, the dinners went awkwardly, as she made polite conversation with a particularly enthusiastic Professor Slughorn. She didn't particularly like him, but she wanted to pass Potions, and let him blabber on.

Josephine had discussed her subject choices with Professor McGonagall, and continued with what she had been studying previously. This included Astronomy, Charms, Defense Against The Dark Arts, Herbology, History of Magic (the horror), Potions, Transfiguration, Ancient Runes and Care of Magical Creatures. For the rest, she was officially a student now. Her preceding drama was forgotten and she was ordinary once more. Well, almost.

By the time that the first day of school arrived, Josephine had already covered her part of the dorm wall with assortments of drawings and sketches she had completed in her time of settling into her new living space. The central furnace of the room crackled warmly as she anxiously awaited the arrival of the other students. She sat in her school uniform on the wide windowsill. Through the paneled window she saw the scatters of first years making their way across the rippling water of the Black Lake.

It was an amazing sight – the stars were reflected hazily in the dusky water as quivering groups of bobbing lights crossed their way to the castle. She stood up suddenly and hurried out of the dorm, passing the mirror hung on the wall. Her deep brown eyes looked back anxiously at her in a fleeting glance as she sprinted toward the Great Hall. Her steps were almost silent through the halls, as instead of the usual black school shoes, she was wearing subtle black converse. She took the stone stairs two at a time as she practically flew toward the imposing entrance hall. She stopped abruptly as the sea of dark-robed students streamed across her path. She could see a glimmer of light through the doors of the Great Hall, accompanied with the smell of freshly varnished wood and scented candles. She stood a few steps up from the ground level, marveling at the beauty she had missed since an almost fully-fledged war broke out in her time. _So this is what if feels like_, Josie thought, her heart in her throat, _to have a home_.


	7. Chapter 7

SEVEN

Josephine Swire morphed into the crowd seamlessly, and it wasn't until she sat down until someone noticed her for the first time. She took her seat next at the Gryffindor table next to a girl with blond hair loosely gathered up into a bun. She turned to Josephine, whisps of hair floating around her round face. She had a light dusting of freckles and round, stunningly blue eyes.

"Hi," The girl said, clearly surprised, but still smiling. "Listen, darling, I hate to break it to you, but this is the Gryffindor table." She said privately. Josephine laughed.

"I know," She replied defiantly. But before Josephine could introduce herself, the Great Hall went silent. She turned toward the front of the Hall, where Dumbledore stood patiently in front of his pedestal. He cleared his throat, and without saying a word, gestured toward the gaping arch of the entrance with an open palm. A couple of rows of adorable-looking little first years filed in, lead by a disgruntled looking McGonagall, her robes sweeping around her as she carried a short stool and the old, tattered sorting hat. The reason for her dissatisfaction was apparent a few moments later, as Josie caught sight of a first year boy who had fallen into the lake, judging by his soaked appearance.

"There's always one," The blonde girl beside Josie whispered to her friend. Josephine snorted as the group reached the front of the Hall. McGonagall sat down the stool and held the sorting hat up with one hand while the other held a yellowed piece of parchment.

"When I call your name, you will put on the hat and sit on the stool to be sorted," she called out through the Hall. As the sorting commenced, the blonde girl next to Josephine elbowed her.

"So what's your deal?" She asked, leaning toward her discretely.

"Uh, this is actually my first year at Hogwarts," She replied, still facing the front lest she get a detention before school even officially started. The girl snorted. As the first Gryffindor was sorted, Josephine whistled loudly.

"You hardly look like a first year," The girl continued as the noise died down. Josephine sniggered.

"That's because I'm not," She whispered. There was a short silence and a slight, pale hand was thrust in front of Josephine's nose.

"Marlene McKinnon," She said shortly.

"Josephine Swire," She offered, shaking Marlene's hand. "Now shut up, you'll get us in trouble," They both grinned. Someone else was soon sorted into Gryffindor, and the table erupted in cheers once more. Three more students came to join the Gryffindor table before the sorting was over. Dumbledore then nodded his thanks to McGonagall and addressed the school.

"First of all, welcome to another year at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry! It has surely been a long day for you all, but I'd like to make some announcements before you tuck in to your well-deserved feast. The Whomping Willow is still strictly out of bounds for all students, unless you would like to loose a limb. Additionally, we have another new student in the school. I'd like to invite everyone to welcome Josephine Swire warmly to our academy, who will be joining us in Fifth Year."

Dumbledore paused, as there was a hum of curious conversation coming from all four tables in the Hall. He gestured once more for silence, and continued. "I am sure that you all are bursting with questions for this young lady, but I ask you to politely refrain from bombarding her lest she is forced to make an untimely visit to Madame Pomfrey's quarters. Now that is all said and done, the very best of evenings to you all!" He finished with an amused air.

The familiar pop and surprised squeaks from the first years indicated that the feast had apparated onto the table. A very aromatic smell wafted toward Josie and she suddenly felt very hungry. There was a warm chorus of banter hovering over the Hall as Josephine served herself some chicken.

"Hey, Josie," Marlene bumped Josephine's side with her shoulder. Josie jumped a little at the sudden familiarity. She looked up to see Marlene grinning at her manically. "This is Lily. Lily, Josie, Josie Lily," Marlene stated rapidly, leaning back so that Josephine could take a look at the girl who sat on the other side of her. She had a mane of fiery red hair combed to one side of her head, revealing one brilliant green eye looking at her with a keen gaze. Her skin was pale, but it seemed paler against the vibrancy of her hair. She gave a small smile.

"Lily Evans," Lily said kindly, offering her a hand. Josephine was felt petrified on the spot, and had to jerk into motion to shake her hand. _Harry's mother! No, _she told herself firmly. _Not Harry's mother, but just a nice girl in my year._ Perhaps they would even become friends. This thought was so insane to Josephine that she started to laugh to herself. Lily, luckily, took it as flustered anxiety, and assured her that she and "Marley" would take good care of her. Josephine offered her sincerest gratitude, and kept up her performance by asking whether they would show her around the campus tomorrow.

"Sure! Me and Lily aren't taking the same classes, but put together we'd probably be able to get you everywhere," Marlene said, before putting a mouthful of pheasant in her mouth. Josephine felt exhilarated, and the conversation between the three girls went late into the night until they were ushered to their dorms by McGonagall and a nervous-looking prefect. Josie was so exhausted by that time that she didn't have time to talk to any of her other dorm mates before they all fell asleep, comfortably surrounded by the warm glows of the dying fire.


	8. Chapter 8

**Author's Note: I'm so glad to see people enjoying the story! I thought I'd just warn you that this chapter is unusually long... And also that as much as I wish I did, I do not own Harry Potter. **

EIGHT

Josephine got woken up the next morning by the incessant chirping of Lily's muggle alarm clock. She groaned as she reflected on the unfortunate case that she was always most comfortable in bed when she had to get out of it. There were the sounds of movement in the rest of the room, and suddenly Josie remembered where she was, and leapt out of bed. This movement was less graceful than she had hoped, however, and she got caught in the scarlet curtains surrounding her four-posted bed. Marlene's laughter carried throughout the room.

"Oh, shut up, you," Josie scolded, smiling as she batted the offending drapes away and made her way toward the bathroom. She quickly got dressed into her robes and battled with her hair. As she struggled to pull out the knots without making her hair too frizzy, a cat-eyed girl with long, straight and glossy dark brown hair joined her in the mirror.

"Good morning," Josephine said, making room for her in the cramped space. She gave up on her hair as it settled back into some sort of voluminous dark halo around her head. "Is it really?" The groggy teenager shot back. Josie raised her eyebrows and made a quick escape. Her mother had made that quip too many times for Josie to be ignorant to the consequences of her response. Lily caught her expression as she made it back to the dorm room. "Dorcas isn't really a morning person," She supplied quietly as she pulled on her shoes.

"I hadn't noticed. Whose is the fifth bed?" She asked, as the fifth bed was still neatly made up as if no one had slept there.

"No one's. Us Gryffindor fifth year girls are a rare species," Marley said from the doorway. She leant against it, her school bag over one shoulder. "You coming? Dorcas usually takes her own sweet time," Her voice became louder on the last few syllables as she called out.

"Yeah, okay," Josie smiled at Marlene as the three girls walked their way down for breakfast.

They sat down at the Gryffindor table, but were either very early or late, because there weren't many students joining them, except for a copse of sulky Slytherins at the back of the Hall and some loud, gossiping Hufflepuffs.

"Jesus Christ, Lily," Josephine said to the girl. "How early did you set that alarm clock to?" Lily just smiled, as Marlene grumbled and took her seat next to Josie.

"She does that every morning. It's actually quite good, because then we get to breakfast before the rush hour, but I'll never admit that to Lily," Marley told Josephine. Lily chuckled under hand and the girls helped themselves to pieces of toast.

"So those drawings on your wall," Marley said through a mouthful of jam, "You drew those?"

"Yeah, I had a bit of time on my hands, so…" Josephine trailed off.

"_You_ drew those?" Lily echoed.

"Yeah, that's what I just-"

"They're really good!" She interrupted.

"That's so awesome, I wish I could draw like that," Marlene added enthusiastically. Josephine knew that they really weren't that good. She wasn't being just modest; they were just sketches – and just a hobby. She tried to assure the other two girls of this, but they wouldn't hear a second of it. Just as they let the subject drop, three disheveled-looking boys plunked down on the bench opposite them.

"Lily, Marlene… New girl," A tall, lanky boy with extremely messy black hair and rectangular glasses greeted each of them in turn. Josephine almost choked on her toast as she immediately recognized the boy as Harry Potter. She took a double take. Luckily the boy seemed to not have noticed, as he was gazing avidly at a sour-looking Lily. _Of course_, Josephine thought. It was James Potter, Harry's father. The resemblance was uncanny, but now that Josie was paying attention, she spotted James's hazel eyes. It was practically the only thing that set them apart, although if Josephine had kept looking she would surely find more differences, like the stronger jawline and heavier eyebrows.

The unexpected blow left Josephine momentarily breathless as she felt the pain of the friends she would never see again. She mentally shook herself out of it and pretended like nothing had happened, even though she could still feel the almost tangible hole in her chest. Josie turned her attention to the other two boys. There was a rather short, plumpish boy with wispy dark blonde hair parted in the middle who sat beside James with eyes that told he was not quite awake yet. Josie regrettably recognized him as Peter Pettigrew, the boy who would one day grow up to be the indirect killer of his own friends. She put this thought out of her mind, however, because at this moment in time (in the _present,_ Josie assured herself), he was merely a boy attending breakfast at Hogwarts.

The third boy slouched over the table, one hand holding his chin up as he watched Josephine with a crystal grey eye. The other one was shrouded in a mop of long, black hair that waved around his face and grazed the edge of his robes. One eyebrow was cocked upward, and his mouth twitched in a handsome, lop-sided smile until his turned his attention back to his friends. Judging by the people he surrounded himself with and the way his school shirt was bunched up around his elbows, this was surely Sirius Black. His tie lay undone around his loosely buttoned collar, and he leaned back against the dark brick of the edge of the mantle with one foot up tucked up on the bench as he fiddled with tying the ends.

"Where's Remus this morning?" Marlene asked James, and Josephine was partially listening. She would have been fully listening has Sirius not been staring at her again.

"Is there something wrong?" She asked, gesturing with her butter knife.

"Not at all… I'm Sirius Black," He stated in an amused voice.

"I'm Jos-"

"The new girl, I know," Sirius interjected.

"Josephine Swire," Josie said firmly.

"So what's your story, new girl?" Sirius said.

"Yeah, I've been meaning to ask you that myself, but you know, bombardment and all that," Marley joined the conversation.

"Uh," Josephine stalled. "How about we meet tonight in the Common Room and I'll tell you all the whole story? That way I won't have to tell it a million times…"

"Whoo, storytime!" Marlene squeaked. "I can't wait." Sirius caught Josephine's eye and dramatically rolled his. She laughed, and as Josephine introduced herself to the others and Marlene told them about the impending 'storytime', McGonagall walked past with the timetables. Josephine received hers and immediately her good mood was squandered. She groaned loudly. As the others received their timetables, no one had to ask what caused her disdain. There, in elegant script under the first class of the day was written 'Potions'.


	9. Chapter 9

NINE

As the group entered the Potions classroom, James kept an eye on Lily to see where she sat. The desks were, as always, arranged in pairs, and Josie could see his intentions. Sirius gave James an encouraging push as he walked over. Lily took a seat in the second row, but as James was approaching, she quickly called over Marlene to come sit beside her. Josephine suddenly felt a pang of sympathy for him as he collapsed instead beside a blonde boy in the row behind. Some more observation told Josie that this was the evasive Remus Lupin. She remembered the man from her third year at Hogwarts as the best Defense teacher she had ever had.

He leaned heavily on his desk, resting his chin on his crossed forearms as he waited for the lesson to start. His hair was a tousled mop of dark blonde that flopped over his darkly shadowed eyes and Josephine was painfully reminded of his lycanthropy. His clothes were shabby, but not as bad as he would have in the future.

Josie sat down in an empty seat and her thoughts were interrupted with the realization that she had no one to sit with. Sirius stood beside her and seemed to have realized the same thing, as he shouldered Peter off and told him to go sit somewhere else before sitting down abruptly next to Josephine. She caught a glance of Peter's hurt face before he sauntered off to the other side of the room.

"Wow," Josephine scoffed. "I don't know whether to be grateful that you've come to sit beside a loner or to be appalled at the way you just treated your friend."

Sirius snorted. "Are you kidding? I did him a favour," He leant back and pointed rather indiscreetly at where Peter had gone to sit. A small Hufflepuff girl covered with freckles, and a rather becoming blush was making conversation with him. "The sod has been making eyes at her for ages."

"You're so evil!" Josie laughed, and caught Sirius's grin.

"I know."

Slughorn came into the room and said nothing as he appraised the class with a gaze that he must have meant to be stern, but came off as a rather forced grimace. The students in the class were either oblivious to this, or were purposefully ignoring him, because he eventually gave up and caught the class's attention with the obnoxious tapping of his wand against his cauldron.

"Now, now, settle down… that's better. Welcome to your first Potions lesson of the year!" He gave a little smile and paused as if he was waiting for applause. When none came, he awkwardly cleared his throat. "Uh, so… Today we'll be straying a bit from the curriculum, as I'd rather ease you in to usual, rather demanding O.W.L. schedule. We'll be making less of a potion than a common resource, called Phosphoroil." Lily was frantically flipping through her Potions textbook. "The recipe is on this parchment that I am distributing now. No books will be required, unless you are researching the ingredients." The pieces of paper floated through the air to each table. "Go!" Slughorn ended enthusiastically. "No, wait! I should say that the homework for tonight is to write an essay on the many uses of Phosphoroil. Hand them in to me on Friday!"

"He sounds as delighted as a five-year old girl on Christmas morning," Sirius said gruffly, under his breath.

"Is he always like that?" Josie asked as she reprimanded the parchment.

"Unfortunately."

"Okay! So, Phosphoroil," She started reading the parchment aloud as Sirius got out Josephine's pewter cauldron. She noted silently that he seemed to not have brought any equipment to class at all.

The ingredients for the Potion stood on the dark table like a congregation of inanimate objects around the heating cauldron.

"We won't need the amber sprouts till the end, so we should prepare them first…" Josephine looked up from her reading and saw Sirius mashing the delicate, shiny red shoots into a pulp. "What are you doing?!" Josie exclaimed and leaned over to grab his fist around the mortar and pestle to stop him from continuing.

"We need the oil and the sprouts separately! If you mash them up then you'll ruin both…" Josephine glanced up at his face and as she suddenly apprehended how close they were, her sentence trailed off. Sirius's messy black hair grazed against her forehead and his eyes regarded her with steely amusement. She could smell the musky scent of cinnamon off his person, and was suddenly hyperaware of the warmth of his upper arm against her side. Mortified, Josephine gathered herself and tersely snapped back to her previous position.

"Uh…" The girl screwed up her face in concentration as she tried to grasp at the rapidly retreating thoughts of what she was trying to say. Sirius leaned back onto the back two legs of his chair and waited for her composure with a smug expression.

"How do you propose we do it then?" He supplied, to the immense gratitude of Josephine.

"You have to cut it down the middle and let it drip out for a while…" She avoided eye contact as she seized the remaining sprouts. "It takes ages, which is why we have to do it at the beginning, then by the time we need them, they'll be ready. Now, get your arse into gear. We have to kill some slugs."


	10. Chapter 10

TEN

Josephine found that the curriculum had apparently gotten harder in the next twenty years, as most of the class content was surprisingly easy for her. This, of course, allowed her to spend most of her time doodling in the most boring of classes. She had bought a ton of ballpoint pens in muggle London, which were a lot more satisfying to draw with than quills. She was caught only once, but by the pleasant serendipity of the simpler syllabus, Josie could answer the quick-fire question shot at her by Professor Cardimino in Ancient Runes, to make sure she was listening, without too much trouble.

That night she arrived at the Common Room with Remus, who had been typically nice to her as he introduced himself to her in the Ancient Runes class they shared. She emerged from the portrait hole with a backpack sagging with homework for the week over one shoulder. The sight of the rest of the Marauders, Lily and Marlene sitting congregated around the hearth greeted Josephine. There was always a soft warm light in the Gryffindor Common Room that she was very fond of, and it reminded her that this was her home now. Marlene was the first to notice them and waved them over. They made room for her on the couch and Sirius pushed James off the side with a nonchalant shove of his elbow. The boy sprawled on the floor and staged an offended look toward Sirius as he made himself comfortable with his back facing the heat of the dancing flames.

Josephine collapsed on the couch next to Marlene, who was said nothing but was staring at her very pointedly. After a while, everyone pried Josie enough to start telling her story, despite all her efforts to direct the conversation elsewhere. She told the story the way Dumbledore had told it to her – starting off with her father's death and ending with the Hogwarts Letter arriving five years late. The group remained mostly silent, except for Sirius asking the occasional disrupting question, whom Remus eventually silenced with an adept wave of his wand.

The Common Room around them stayed abuzz with alternate conversations, but Josephine knew that certain people were listening in. She didn't mind. It would mean she wouldn't have to tell the story too many more times, which was good because she hated lying about her family, her mother especially. She was also glad to get this out of the way. With a backstory, she could continue her life as if it was the truth and feel like this was reality, and not just some hazy dream.

As she finished, she looked up at the others' wide eyes and gave a nervous laugh to stop the tears from escaping.

"And they lived happily ever after, the end!" The words fled her mouth in an almost incoherent string of sounds as she picked up her bag and sped toward the dorm room. It would be a bad idea for them to see her cry. This whole story was too much already. She could feel their gazes locked into her back like a fleet of snipers as she reached the archway. Before she could, however, a hand on her shoulder stopped her.

"Josephine," She turned around to see Remus, slightly taller than her, looking down at her with worried eyes. "I just wanted to say that you're really, uh, brave for telling us that. It's not easy to share secrets."

She knew he was saying this from experience, and she took his hand off her shoulder with her own. Little did he know that she had a million more secrets that she could never tell, of his best friends' deaths, and his life bound of undefined duty and of the chaos that the world would become. They were now her burden to bear. Remus pulled her into an inviting hug that enveloped her with the friendly warmth that she didn't know she had missed. Before she could stop herself, she whispered quietly in his ear, her voice thick with her contained tears.

"It's Dumbledore we have to feel sorry for. Two pranksters who could burn the school down any minute, a crazy nutter from the middle of nowhere, and a werewolf, all in one year…" She pulled back and gave him a sad smile. His eyebrows were knitted together in puzzled surprise and he was locked to the spot, the wiry muscles in his back and arms going tense.

"Don't worry, I won't tell anyone," Josephine assured him as she closed his mouth with two slender fingers against his coarse jaw. She stroked his cheek and turned toward the stone steps. Now she had a one up on the poor fellow, which would, unbeknownst to Josephine, make for a steadfast friendship from that point on. He was now a person whom she could indisputably trust, which subconsciously, made her feel infinitely more grounded. Remus watched her ascend the steps as she imagined the emergency Marauders meeting that would undoubtedly be held in a few minutes time. Josephine Swire slept better that night than she ever had since she arrived in 1975.


	11. Chapter 11

ELEVEN

The next day Josephine constantly peered around corners before she entered hallways in the anticipation of the Marauders ambushing her in search of answers. Her nervousness was seemingly apparent, as Marlene kept on backhanding her shoulder in frustration whenever she would hesitate, and overtake her in the slowing traffic of the corridors. However, Josie could, of course, not reveal the reason for her hesitation. She was inside her head for the majority of the time, mulling over what she would say to them. She hadn't realized till that morning what a terrible mistake she had made.

How was she supposed to explain to them how she knew? There was no logical explanation to this, and if she tried to make one up it would sound false. The boys would surely be distrustful of her, but what could they do? A memory charm? It was surely against the school rules, but that never stopped them before. Whenever her thoughts turned to this, Josephine had to assure herself that they wouldn't do anything as drastic as that, but she had only known them for two days. What did she know?

Josie considered talking to Dumbledore with her predicament, but she didn't want to bother him. He was probably busy with more important matters and she didn't want him to think her incompetent, especially after all he had done for her. All she could do was wait for the confrontation.

But the confrontation didn't come. In fact, the only time that she saw the Marauders at all was in Defense Against the Dark Arts just before lunch. They were in their usual place at the back of the class, and Josephine kept looking back at them. There was no obvious sign from the outside that they were distressed about their recent accumulation of knowledge regarding Remus's secret-that-wasn't-a-secret-anymore. At least, it wasn't to Josephine.

They sat as they always did. Sirius was balancing on his back two chair legs, wearing an indifferent expression as Professor Woelf berated the class for not cleaning up the mess from yesterday's duel. James sat beside him, upper body draped over his desk, painfully similar to how Harry Potter would sit. At the desks to the pair's left sat Remus and Peter. The latter showed the only sign of tension, but Josephine couldn't remember if he was always like this or not.

Remus looked up from writing notes from the blackboard and caught Josephine staring at him. Something inside her tightened and she whipped her head back to the front. She silently accommodated the thought that perhaps Remus hadn't told anyone after all.

After class Josephine walked to lunch flanked by Lily and Marlene. A sea of Hogwarts students surrounded them, and they were part of the tide. As the girls were about to cross the courtyard, something caught Josephine's eye. It came from somewhere to her left, poking out from the horizon of the corridor's end. It was a curious shape, not quite a person, and too light to be a silhouette. She paused.

"Hey, guys, I just remembered something I have to do, I'll meet you in the hall later," Josie said quickly, and vaguely to the others. "But if you don't see me before the bell rings, don't wait up, I'll just see you in Charms or something," She added over her shoulder as she pushed her way through the crowd. Marlene muttered something about Josephine being particularly jumpy recently, but she took no heed. Josie reached a quiet part of the hallway and looked around. The walls were bare and there was a single window reaching all the way to the alcove's ceiling, but apart from that, it was a dead end.

Suddenly, she was jerked backwards by a force situated at her neck. She let out a strangled cry and her surroundings plunged into darkness. She was pushed against a cold, craggy wall and a hand was pressed against her mouth as something else held her back across her collarbone. She breathed hard against the fingers of her captive and clawed her hands against the stone of the wall.

"Lumos," whispered a nervous voice, and Peter Pettigrew's wand tip illuminated his round face. Josephine's eyes darted around and found Sirius's face close, with his piercing grey eyes locked on hers.

"How much do you know?" He said in a low, half-whisper. Her eyebrows drew together and she pushed him bodily away. Josie looked at him and tried to look as unimpressed as she could. Sirius stumbled back, but his gaze never faltered.

"How was I supposed to answer with your bloody hand over my mouth?" Josephine said defiantly, before catching the sight of Remus, clearly uncomfortable, standing beside Peter and trying to look small. Josie sighed and rolled her shoulders. "I know everything," She said calmly to the floor.

James had apparently decided that Sirius wasn't really one for interrogating and pushed him aside to take his place in front of Josephine.

"How did you find out? You've only been here for a couple days," He said, firm, but somehow infinitely more rational than Sirius. Thoughts swam around in Josephine's brain like an endless whirlpool of confusion. Everything was messed up. Why couldn't she just keep her stupid mouth closed for one minute? She scrunched her eyes closed, hand over her eyes, and fell back against the wall.

"I…" _I, what? I know about it because I'm from the fucking future? I know about it because I was friends with your bloody son? _No. She could never tell them the truth. She would be condemned as crazy for the rest of her life, and only Dumbledore and McGonagall would ever know the reality. She moaned and looked at the ceiling. She looked desperately, apologetically, earnestly, and straight into Remus's eyes before replying,

"I can't tell you."


	12. Chapter 12

TWELVE

"What do you mean, you can't tell us?!" Sirius's voice burst out of the silence. All of the marauders were looking at Josephine with varying degrees of confusion and outrage.

"I just can't! All I can say is that it was a reliable source, and I won't tell anyone. Your secret is safe!" She ended desperately, voice cracking on the last few syllables. How much longer did she have to keep lying?

"That's bullshit," Sirius spat.

"We hardly know you!" James agreed. Josephine looked at Remus. His brow was creased and he looked unfocused.

"I know, I know," she said, trying to calm the two boys down. "I know it's stupid, and I shouldn't have said anything at all… But please. Just trust me." Her voice was sucked into the darkness as if she hadn't said anything at all. Sirius stayed quiet, but the look on his face said that he hadn't changed his mind. James looked hesitant, but he too, was well known for his stubbornness.

"I'm sorry. But I really can't tell you. You have to understand that if I could, I would," She spoke to Remus. Peter's wand faltered with the lighting, and for the first time Josie remembered his presence in the room. She looked at him, but he looked scared of her, and was particularly uncomfortable under her gaze. There was no way Peter would be on her side. He was an okay bloke (_in this time, _thought Josephine briefly before furiously dispelling it from her mind), but he didn't make any decisions without the guidance of one of the other boys.

James and Sirius were too single-minded, and this was about Remus anyway, not them. The silence felt like an age as she stared pleadingly at Remus. He stood in the pale wand-light, which made the shadows under his eyes even more apparent than usual. He was chewing on his lip, and in the dim of the room, he almost looked like a part of the wall, sagged against it in frustration and partially obscured by the taller Sirius Black.

"_You_ believe me, don't you?" She said to him. Sirius followed her gaze and appraised the boy expectantly.

"Yes." Remus Lupin replied simply. His expression said it all. His eyebrows where still crinkled but his eyes were kind, and he shot Josephine a small smile.

"What? Seriously?" Sirius exclaimed. "You're just going to let it go like that? What if she tells?"

"She won't." Remus said firmly. "And, besides, this is my problem and as grateful as I am for all your help, I don't really think it's in your place to give me advice on who to trust." His voice came out in a calm, sensible manner that made Sirius pause in his step. Before anything more could be said, Remus walked out of the chamber through one of the seemingly solid walls to Josie's left. _So it was some sort of secret passage,_ she noted.

Sirius turned to Josephine, who suddenly felt extremely vulnerable and pressed herself against the wall again. His gaze raked her up and down in scrutiny before he came back up to her eyes to give her one of those short nods that boys always give. It was final. Abrupt. Dismissive. He turned around and grunted to James and Peter to come and get some lunch before the bell rang again. Josephine followed him with her eyes, nose wrinkled in disgust.

What a douche.

The rest of the day commenced as if nothing happened. Despite Josephine's newly developed distaste for Sirius Black, her demeanor was back to normal, and a weight was lifted off her shoulders. She could sleep easy that night knowing that at least Remus didn't hate her. _That Sirius Black, though, _she pondered. Seems like not just Peter changed in those twenty years. Every time she passed him in the hallway for the rest of that week, he would look at her, but not completely acknowledge her. It annoyed Josephine out of her mind, and eventually she talked to Marlene and Lily about it one night after Astronomy.

"Either he likes you, or he's trying to 'figure you out'", Marlene said through a mouthful of chocolate frog, sitting cross-legged and straight backed upon her bed.

"'Figure me out'?"

"Yeah," Lily said from the bed next to Marlene's. "Boys do that. If they don't understand something they scrunch their faces up and think about it really hard. Can't multitask, remember?" She retorted, brandishing her quill as she looked up from writing her Potions essay.

Josephine couldn't help but scoff. 'Figure her out'? Hardly. She knew that those glares in the hallway meant that he probably just straight up hated her. To think that she risked and lost her whole life for that arrogant git made her want to punch a wall. She refrained, but still spoke many silent, nevertheless ill words toward him every time she thought of him. Which was more often than she would have liked.


	13. Chapter 13

THIRTEEN

Josephine was drawing on her potions essay in the Gryffindor Common room when Remus approached her. She and Lily were sitting at the desk next to the window looking out on the black lake, and Josie could hardly concentrate on the paper. It was one of those afternoons where, from the inside, the weather looks glorious. One could find themselves drawn to go for a walk outside, only to be met with the pleasant chill of early autumn.

Josie ripped her gaze away from the window as Remus coughed from behind her. He had apparently come from outside, as his Gryffindor scarf was wrapped several times around his neck and his nose was red from the cold.

"Hey, could I talk to you for a minute?" He said to Josephine, casting a worried glance at Lily across the table. Lily gave them both an annoyingly knowing smile and sweeped her stuff from the table with practiced speed. As soon as Remus saw her blazing red head disappear out the portrait hole, he put his attention back on Josephine.

"I just wanted to say that I'm really sorry for the way Sirius acted," He started off awkwardly.

"That's okay. In fact, it really isn't your fault," She said matter-of-factly as she stood up from her chair. "If someone was going to apologize, it should be him." She glanced across the room at the devil himself. Sirius lay spread out on the couch which the rest of the Gryffindors had wordlessly accepted belonged exclusively to the Marauders. He looked bored as James talked animatedly beside him.

"Yeah, but I doubt he's going to do that, so…" Remus laughed lightly. Josephine leaned against the back of the chair and looked back at Remus.

"Well, apology accepted then, I guess. Hey, I heard something about a Hogsmeade visit soon?"

"Yeah, I heard about that too. It's next week," He said, his eyes wandering around as if this information didn't really matter to him. "Oh, I forgot! You've probably never been to Hogsmeade before."

Something inside Josephine froze. "Uh—no, I haven't." Her speech came out fragmented. "Not properly anyway, I only passed through on the way here." She was just about to ruin her cover.

"Maybe we should go together… You know, as friends," he added on quickly. As Remus was struggling for words she gathered herself and tried to stay in character. "'Cause then I can show you all the good places, you know?" Remus's face scrunched up slightly. Josephine guessed, amused, that he was internally chastising his sudden illiterateness.

"That sounds really nice," She assured, smiling. Remus's face lit up, which, Josephine brusquely admitted, made him look infinitely more handsome. The light streaming through the window lit up the floating dust between them and she sighed.

"Hogwarts is wonderful, isn't it?" He said quietly.

"Yeah, it really is,"

"People often forget about what a beautiful place this is because they see it everyday. We are so lucky, Josephine." Lucky. In a sense, she was. She left behind the chaotic world where she was constantly running… physically, metaphorically. She stumbled into this world like it was an alternate universe. Sure, the dark forces were rising silently and steadily behind them, like a zit that creeps up on you overnight. One of those ones that eventually, you can't ignore. Josephine laughed privately at the analogy. It was this kind of blunt humour that kept her from going over the edge. A war was rising. But this time she could do something about it.

"Lucky," She repeated.

"What are you thinking about?" She looked at Remus. Half of his face was lit up by the warm, comforting afternoon sun, and his eyes glinted with interest.

"I have never felt so at home in my life… and I can't help but feel like it's going to end someday. Everything is going to end." She said it peacefully. It was killing her inside, but somehow her words came out eloquently. The recipe to coherent thoughts was to let them brew for several hours. "I realized it a while ago, but now I know."

"Know what?"

"These are the best days of our lives. It's a terrible thing to know, but I know it." She watched Remus contemplate this.

"I refuse to believe it." He stated.

"Good attitude to have."

"No really." He said. "Once we're out of here, I don't have to worry about those two over there wrecking everything in sight," He gestured to Sirius and James. Josephine laughed and glanced over. To her surprise, she saw Sirius leering at her out of the corner of his eye. He looked away within a millisecond, but there was still something there that shifted something inside her. Had he been looking all this time?

She would have to report these recent events to her advisors, but she wouldn't see Marlene and Lily until later this evening.

"I'll see you tomorrow sometime, then we can confirm the date of the Hogsmeade thing, okay?" Josephine suddenly recalled Remus's presence.

"Yeah, okay." She smiled at Remus. As he walked away something struck her. How was she going to pretend that she had never been to Hogsmeade before?


	14. Chapter 14

Author's Note: Been way too long, I know. A combination of writer's block and life. Hopefully the wait was worth it! :)

FOURTEEN

Autumn had come around particularly early, and there was a haze of summer debris floating lazily around in the breeze. Josephine stood alone behind the dilapidated barbwire fence that separated her from a long stretch of rocky ground leading to the Shrieking Shack. The building looked sad. She could find no better word to describe it. It looked on the brink of collapse, even now.

Remus had showed her around Hogsmeade that afternoon, but had left early to finish the homework that was due at the end of the weekend. Josie knew that she had the same responsibilities, but wasn't quite ready to lock herself in a room with her Charms homework with only a quill to arm herself with.

Their day had been strangely uneventful, and there was something infectious about the lazy weather that caused her to be completely content at being caught up in her own thoughts. However, this was rudely disturbed by a sharp call from over her shoulder.

"Oi! New girl!" Josie closed her eyes and turned. She knew that voice. That arrogant, drawling slur of words could only be-

"Lucius Malfoy," She said. He stood a small way up from her, his shock of light blonde hair a contrast against his dark robes. _And dark soul_, Josephine thought, and grimaced at her bad metaphor. His cronies stood on either side of him, Snape and Bellatrix on one side and Narcissa on the other. The similarities between him and his son were almost as disorienting as the ones between James and Harry.

"Yes," he seemed impressed, "seems my fame has reached even you these days." He put his hands in his pockets and lifted his head so he looked down his nose at her. Wizards were ever so more dramatic than muggles. Josephine was not in any way in the mood to talk to any assholes, and decidedly walked back in the direction of the castle.

"Ah, come on, not up for a little fun?" She could hear Bellatrix shout. She drowned them out and trudged through narrowing streets of Hogsmeade. Sometimes Josephine forgot that these people would grow up to be killers, and it made her uneasy about turning her back on them. A shiver ran it's way down her spine.

Back at the castle, the warmth of the Gryffindor common room enveloped her, and she sighed. The marauders were suspiciously absent, so Josephine went upstairs and collapsed on her bed. Fucking hell. Suddenly all her troubles collapsed on her, and the future loomed over her like a storm cloud. Seeing Lucius and his friends had just reminded her of that. She felt determined to change something of this, change history, change the world. It would spare lives, create a whole new cosmos, but it seemed so beyond her. Josephine Swire, all on her own. Of all her problems, above everything else, her loneliness was absolute. At some point during these disconnected series of thoughts she fell asleep.

She woke up bedraggled, still in her uniform with her legs hanging limply over the edge of the bed. She got up and looked around at the room and saw that it was getting annoyingly dark outside. "Shit." She croaked, and got up. After straightening herself out, taking off her shoes and fixing her hair, she found herself walking down the stairs into the Gryffindor common room. There was a fire in the grate, and about a dozen people in various collapsed positions around the room. The flickering light shone on the Marauders in their usual places. Remus looked too small for the armchair as he sat cross-legged, his nose in a book. Lily sat uncomfortably sandwiched between Marlene and James on the couch while Marlene looked overwhelmingly smug, and Josephine smiled to herself. Peter sat with his back against the stone of the fireplace, his usual look of uneasiness on his face. Whether that was because his homework was overdue or because he felt imminent danger, no one could ever tell. Then, there was Sirius, lying on his stomach, his feet dangling dangerously close to the crackling flames as his head buried into his elbows.

"Where have _you_ been?" Marlene exclaimed as she sat up. The rest of the group came to casual attention, all except for Sirius, who didn't move. "You missed dinner, you goose." Marley moved over on the couch, which almost tipped James off the edge on his side. Josephine waved her hand as if to say, "don't bother", and sat herself down on the ground.

"I was doing my Charms," She lied as she lay back and balanced her stocking feet on Marlene's lap.

"Bullshit."

"_Any_way," James jumped in (he still hadn't completely forgiven her for the Remus incident), "So then she told me I had a detention for showing disrespect to a speaker! Just because I wasn't listening to his stupid story about his boring wand cleaners… The only thing that would make that class interesting would be if Bertie Bott himself came back from the dead and tap-danced on McGonagall's desk…" James's voice slowly faded into the background as Josephine looked around at the students' faces. The soft strokes of light from the fireplace made them seem like part of the landscape. Hogwarts was nothing but an empty shell without its students, all in what they thought was the prime of their life.

She lay back on the ground, her legs still elevated on the couch as she thought some more. She was sick of thinking, though. She thought all the time. In her sea of emotions, hitting like a tide against the edges of her head, she felt like she was drowning. Josie was about to close her eyes again when Sirius bumped her with his shoulder.

"Saw you out the window this afternoon," He mumbled as he looked at her with hooded eyes.

"Yeah?"

"Yeah. Since when do you talk with Malfoy and his idiots?" It wasn't accusatory as much as curious.

"Oh, I don't. Just bumped into them. It was a one-sided conversation, really."

"Oh." There was a pause. "Okay."


	15. Chapter 15

FIFTEEN

Even though she felt like she needed to, Josie told no one about the fragmented conversation she had with Sirius that night. It confused her to no end – one minute he had been scrutinizing her with something akin to dislike, and now he was interested in holding a conversation with her? It wasn't even a conversation, she admitted. But it was, in some ways, better than the near-shouting match they had in the secret passageway. Besides, he was hardly her priority at the moment.

By now, Josephine felt like she was finally comfortable in her surroundings. She had built her social and physiological foundations and was now ready to start on her house. It was the lunch hour on a Thursday – she had taken a sneaky trip to the kitchens in her study period and was now wandering through the thigh-high grass of the meadow leading up to the Owlery. She was finishing up the last few bites of her almond tart as she approached the humble looking tower.

Josephine Swire used to take regular trips to the Owlery, to send letters back to her family. There was really no reason for her trip to the Owlery – she had no one to send a letter to now – except for that she felt a messed-up kind of nostalgia. With everyone in the Great Hall for lunch, the grounds were strangely deserted, and she could almost forget she was not in 1995 anymore. The grounds looked almost exactly the same as they would 20 years from now. Josie stretched her fingers down and let the dry tips of the grass tickle her palms. She reached the tower, and, feeling delightfully warm in her thickest jersey, entered the open entranceway.

There was, as expected, no one around, so she took her time wandering around. She caught herself judging the flock of owls, as if she was choosing one to carry her non-existent letter. She sighed and stopped in front of a large brown owl. He had intelligent eyes, and though he was big, he was lean and looked fast. They had a staring contest for a couple of minutes until she gave in.

"Fine." She let go of the breath she was holding. "Hop on." She held out her forearm for the owl to perch on. Josie carried the bird up to the highest level of the Owlery, where the dilapidated writing desk lived. She thought all the while about who-the-hell she would write to. She sat down, and the owl glided from her arm onto the nearest perch. Everyone she "knew" was here. Except for… She picked up some ink on the quill and started writing.

_ 18__th__ September 1975_

_ Dear Mr. Kalt,_

_ It's been about a month (actually, strangely, exactly a month… I promise I didn't plan this) since you helped me through what was (I'm sure) the most bizarre case you've been on. I never properly thanked you for this, and I think it's about time. Professor Dumbledore has settled me in well here (as he may or may not have told you)._

_ I hope you haven't been working yourself too hard in the absence of your superior, and I'm sure Lance has been helping you out with some of the workload. _

_ Thank you for your time, concerns and efforts,_

_ Josephine P. Swire_

Josie sighed and leaned back in her chair. Sure, it was neat, polite and a little formal, but the letter gave her closure, and that was the most important part. Just as she was folding it up, she heard the far away murmur of students, and realized that they must have been released for lunch. She put her neat letter into a neat envelope and as she was tying it to the tawny owl's leg when suddenly she heard fast footsteps slap their way up the stone staircase. She turned around to see James running backwards into the room, puffing and clearing his throat.

"Um, hello," she said curiously.

"Hey," he said in passing, seemingly not fully realizing her presence. He straightened up and ran to the window, leaning out of it precariously.

"What are you gonna do now, you little tossers?!" He bellowed, laughing, and held up both his middle fingers, waving them around in the air obnoxiously.

"James?" Josephine said, rising from her chair with the owl on her forearm. He turned around, eyebrows raised.

"Yeah?"

"What are you doing?"

"Running from some first years."

Josie walked to stand beside him, peering out of the window to spot some little boys yelling bravado before running away through the high grass. _Boys_, Josephine thought, amused.

"Right then," She laughed, and turned to see James already halfway out of the room again. "Hey, wait!" She said, hopping awkwardly forward, and her owl squawked in complaint. James stopped. It was rare to find him alone. This could be her chance.

"Look, I know I'm not your favourite person in the world right now, but I just wanted to apologize for any damage that I've done. I have Remus's best interests in mind, trust me, and-"

"There you go again!" James interjected, not unkindly. He had a look of frustration as he flailed his arms a bit. "'Trust me, trust me'…" He sighed and trailed off. "I'm not one to look for conflict, Josephine, so I don't want to make something of this as long as you give me a _reason_ to trust you. It's all very well saying it, but…" He paused. "Merlin, I sound like a bloody girl!" Josephine laughed brokenly.

"Okay." She said.

"Okay?" James said, surprised.

"Give me a chance and I'll show you that you can trust me. I won't tell anyone about Remus's secret, and I'll cover you for Saturday's full moon." She said it factually, but internally, she was pleading. A small smile broke out on James's face, and Josephine exhaled heavily. She didn't realize she was holding her breath.

"Okay, let me send this owl and we can go back to the common room," She quickly scribbled the address of the Ministry of Magic on the envelope (not neatly at all), and sent the bird off.

They strolled back to the castle, making, not small talk, but more of a medium-ground talk, while organizing a time at which all the Marauders could meet regarding the full moon. The day would be Friday, the place, the boy's common room, and the time, quarter to two in the morning (the exact time all the lights went off in the castle, and it was certain everyone would be asleep).


	16. Chapter 16

_**Author's note**__: Thank you all so much for the support (favourites, follows, reviews)! I cannot express how much I appreciate this. Someone even said that Josephine Swire was their favourite character! (and I hope that they don't mind being singled out, I just flipped out :P). I'm interested in everyone else's opinion of her too, actually, so if you have time, I would love to hear it! _

_Anyway, here's a rather short chapter, but also rather fulfilling (if I may say so myself)._

SIXTEEN

The rest of Thursday afternoon went uneventfully, and so that evening Josephine sat with Lily and Marlene on Lily's bed. They ate Writhing Pythons (a sweet gum that had become Josie's favourite snack from the seventies) and listened to Marlene's new EP on the record player in the corner.

"You know," Marlene said in between bites of her python as it squirmed in her fingers, "They may be called the Foaming Thirteen but I think they can sing pretty well, considering." They were waiting for that night's Astronomy lesson, which didn't help to get Josie's mind off the full moon. She was starting to feel a bit queasy about it.

"Ugh, Marlene, can't you eat the head first?" Lily said, her face twisting while she looked at the fat snake struggling in her friend's hand. Josie laughed.

"It's not really alive, Lil," She said.

"I know…"

"Ugh, okay, so you know that little Hufflepuff boy, the one with the wiry arms?" Marley said suddenly.

"The one that was eyeing you up at lunch today?" Lily said, reaching for some more sweets.

"What?" Josie said suddenly. She had missed something.

"Yeah, that's the one. We were sitting at the Gryffindor table and Lily kept staring over my shoulder," Marlene explained, "So I looked, and it was that guy, staring at me while he was eating!"

"Flattering or creepy?"

"Definitely creepy!"

"Oh no." Josephine sympathized.

"What are you going to do?" Lily said, mouth full.

"Don't know. I think I'll just lay low and see if it happens again," Marlene said the sentence quickly as the chorus of the song approached.

"Mm, and then you'll talk to him?"

"Yup." And with that she broke into song, already remembering the words on the third spin of the album. Lily rolled her eyes and smiled.

"What 'bout you, Josie? You have any drama with the lads?" She said jokingly while Marlene wailed on. Josephine laughed.

"Hardly!" She exclaimed.

"Sure, sure…" Lily said, pretending to believe her.

"No seriously. I mean, it's not like I haven't admired people before, or whatever, but come on!" Josie flung an arm out. "How am I supposed to have any 'drama with the lads' when there are people like you around?" She gestured toward the two girls. Marlene abruptly stopped singing.

"What are you on about?"

"Well, you're not exactly ugly are you? Or dumb? Or whatever else boys value these days?" She paused, but the girls were quiet, so she continued. "I'm not saying I envy you, Marley, for being perved at by a third year, but at least you're admired. And Lily, the only reason no one has picked you up already is because no one wants to cross Potter!" She sighed. She knew she was being stupid.

"I'm sorry." Josephine said quietly, and laughed a bit. She almost felt the bizarre urge to walk out dramatically before her friends could respond, but this wasn't a T.V. sitcom. "You know what? It _is_ stupid. Just forget I ever said anything." She gave a weak smile and looked both girls in the face. They said nothing, but Marlene held up the bag of Writhing Pythons for Josie to grab one. She did.

"Thanks," She said, and meant it. Josephine ate the head first, and then she remembered. "Actually I did have some drama with the lads."

"Really?" Lily's voice was gentle, but optimistic.

"Yeah, Sirius is a bit of an odd one," She said, swallowing before continuing. "He was being all brooding for a while and then suddenly we had this really bizarre conversation."

"Mm, I had an ear open for that one," Marlene confirmed. Josie gasped melodramatically.

"No! I call eavesdropper!" Marlene laughed and gently nudged Josephine with her stocking foot.

"What happened?" Lily asked, laughing too.

"He was just suddenly strangely curious about the people I surround myself with. Probably just something to do with a prank, he was asking about Lucius and his friends…"

"Oh," Lily Evans said meaningfully and looked at Josephine from under uneven eyebrows.

"It's probably nothing, boys act weird all the time," She answered, dismissing it.

"It's true, it's true," Marlene said matter-of-factly. "I saw some boys in their study hour playing this completely ridiculous game, I-" Abruptly, Lily straightened up from her reclined position. She looked at her watch and groaned.

"Tell us on the way, Marley. Time for astronomy!" She sang the last word out in an absurdly fake opera voice and swung her legs over the side of the bed. Marlene put away her EP in an overly careful manner before presenting her hand out to Josie in the fashion of a dreamy Disney prince. She looked at her with a mischievous smile and said privately,

"Who cares about boys anyway? We all know you're awesome and that's all that matters." Josephine smiled back at her and jumped up.

"Abso-fucking-lutely," She replied proudly.

"What the hell did you just say?" Marlene joked, teasing her ineloquence.

"Oh do shut up," Josephine Swire said scoldingly. However, she knew all too well what Marlene's words did mean to her, and she appreciated them so profusely that she could hardly smile enough.


	17. Chapter 17

_Author's Note: I took the small pleasure of making up what Professor Sinistra was like (because as far as I can recall JK Rowling didn't go into much depth). I hope you enjoy! :) Oh and also thanks for all the follows/faves/reviews ! 3_

SEVENTEEN

After a mildly challenging climb, bags in tow, Josephine, Lily and Marlene filed into the Astronomy tower – a circular room with a glistening glass dome set upon it like the beady black eye of a fly. The rest of the class was already seated around the center monolith, where Professor Sinistra sat, with her head craned to the sky.

"Come in, come in," She beckoned in her strong Scottish accent. "Class hasn't officially begun yet but I'd like to get started. Sit down, sit down, sit down… Choose a partner," She spoke rapidly, repeating words and letting the syllables roll out of her mouth like the goose from 'Charlotte's Web'. "Actually, Marlene, go with Peter, he's not got a partner… and you two – over there. Off you go," She gestured toward the far side, where there was a gap in the alignment, and Lily led Josie to sit down, picking their way over stray limbs.

Finally Professor Sinistra took a breath and leaned back, her mass of red hair ebbing down her back.

"Today is the best day for viewing the stars – cloudless, warm, and still, and thus _that_ is what we shall do!" She flicked up an index finger. "I know it is slightly basic but it is an opportunity we cannot miss. Everyone get our your starsheets!" There was a rustle as everyone complied.

"Enthusiastic as always," Josie joked to Lily. They both laughed quietly, but curiously Josephine heard a third response from behind them. As she discreetly looked back she saw James and Sirius were seated there. She smiled as Sirius caught her eye.

Professor Sinistra kept setting out instructions, but all they really had to do was plot out what they saw and then check the accuracy for homework. It was the kind of mindless work that Josephine enjoyed on a Thursday night. Soon they were left to work in their partners, Professor Sinistra looking dreamily up into the sky. She really loved her job, Josie supposed.

Suddenly she felt a presence to her right and she saw James leaning back to catch her attention.

"Why, hello," Josephine said in a fake regal voice.

"Sh!" James hissed unexpectedly. He gestured toward an infinitely absorbed Lily, who wouldn't have noticed if a muggle helicopter landed right next to her at that given moment. Josie looked back at James, unamused.

"What do you want?"

"I'll give you a galleon if you'll swap partners with me."

There was a pause.

"Throw in a pack of Bertie Bott's and I'll do it." Josie said. James's eyes widened and he pushed up his glasses.

"Ah, ah, ah, Josie," He said warningly, "You _owe_ me, remember."

He thrust a hand through his hair and eyed her down until she submitted.

"Yeah, I do," She agreed finally, sighing.

"Done." James said decidedly, and they swapped places. Josephine was still sorting out her things when Sirius greeted her.

"How do you do?" He said mockingly, in the same pompous voice that Josephine used just before. They both laughed. Apparently they were once again on good terms.

"Hey," Josephine said abruptly, pointing uselessly with her quill, "That star's called Sirius!"

"Yeah it is," Sirius confirmed, as if he had heard it a thousand times before. He probably had, except now there was a smile in his voice. "My whole family is named like that."

"Really?' Josephine said, intent. She realized she didn't know much about him at all.

"Yup. My middle name is Orion," He laughed at her interest.

"Like the belt?"

"Like the belt."

"That's cool," She dubbed.

"It's actually the dog star," Sirius added.

"No way!" Josephine grinned. "That's a little ironic, don't you think?"

Sirius looked confused. "What do you mean?"

"Uh…"  
Shit. Oh shit. Josephine cursed wildly in her head for letting another thing slip. Of course he didn't know what she was talking about. The marauders didn't become animagi until 6th Year. There they were, finally getting along and her days of future past had caught up with her again. Strike three and you're out.

"Um, never mind," An awkward silence hung, suspended in between them and Josephine tore her eyes away to study her palms. _Change the subject, quick!_ "Anyway, I'm jealous. My name's so perfectly ordinary," It came out slightly rushed but Sirius took the bait.

"Uh, what's your name again?" Sirius joked.

"Oh, shut up."

Josephine knew that if she hadn't pulled such an awkward stunt with revealing that she knew about Remus, they would both be acting differently. In that moment they sat, Josephine looking at Sirius in the moments he wasn't paying attention, all the while thinking about how the conversation could have gone.

_ "Anyway, I'm jealous. My name's so perfectly ordinary."_

_ "No, I like that about you," He said. His response caught Josephine off guard._

_ "What, that I'm ordinary?"_

_ "No, that your name's ordinary. It makes people expect ordinary things from you, when they're actually looking at one of the most extraordinary people in this school."_

_ "Hm," She said shortly. Then, after a while, "Sirius Orion Black, are you flirting with me?"_

_ Sirius whipped out a grin, raised his eyebrows and said, "Maybe."_

_ "You rascal," She reprimanded._

Not that Josephine would have minded much, she realized. Her mental concoction might have been fiction, but perhaps her feelings weren't. Josephine couldn't believe that in the beginning mists of the war storm, she was sitting there falling for Sirius Black. Unexpectedly, a laughed escaped her lips.


	18. Chapter 18

EIGHTEEN

Friday was slow and boring, made even more dragged out by the fact that Josephine was waiting for quarter to two that night since half past eight that morning. But, finally it came, and Josephine didn't feel any less nervous. She heard Lily, Marlene, and Dorcas's even, deep breaths and dubbed it safe to escape to the Marauder's meeting. A total of three floorboards squeaked on her journey to the boy's common room, but the Gryffindors stayed asleep and Josephine reached the door safely. There was a sharp click as she opened it and she was met with darkness.

"Guys….?" She whispered. "It's me."

"Yeah, we can see that," An obnoxiously loud voice said from behind her. She jumped and saw James push past her into the room with a six-pack of something in one hand. He kicked the light on with his foot on his way past. He was followed by the rest of the marauders, Sirius on the tail end, who ushered Josephine in and closed the door behind her.

"Shouldn't we be whispering or something?" Josie said at a normal volume, trusting the school's most notorious tricksters with such matter as mid-night rendezvous.

"Nah, we have a silencing spell round here." James gestured, and opened a bottle with a clink.

"Oh, cool…" Josephine looked around the room, eventually just collapsing down on a spare piece of floor (which was hard to find in the Marauder's sleeping quarters, it had to be said). Remus sat cross-legged on what must have been his bed, Peter on his, and the rest of them on the floor.

"First order of business," James announced, "is of course, cider."

"Of course," Josie agreed incredulously.

"Cider," James said as he handed a bottle to Remus, "Cider, cider, cider… and, cider." And so soon everyone in the room had a stomach-warming drink in hand. Sirius raised his bottle and they each took their first sip.

"Second order of business?" Sirius prompted.

"Mm," James said, swallowing. "The second order of business is the Excuse."

"Okay, so we've used the 'my cousin's getting married'..." Peter said, taking the cue and reading from a little black book. "The 'my sister's graduating', the 'my mum's sick'…" He ticked each one off with his quill as he went along. The other boys nodded along knowingly.

"I actually had a bit of an idea in double potions today," James said when Peter had finished his little list.

"Oh lord," Sirius responded.

"Yes!" James said triumphantly. "Remus, your grandmother's coming to visit this weekend."

"She is?" Peter said innocently to Remus.

"No Pete, he means that's the excuse," Sirius said.

"Oh." Josephine laughed. She sat with her back against the bedpost of an unmade bed, balancing her cider on her knee.

"Your grandmother's coming to visit after years of not seeing you. She's coming from miles and miles, visiting you from her home in…" James ran out of steam and his finger stayed poised in midair as his mouth tried to form words. "In bloody… shit, I don't know… from…"

"Madagascar?" Sirius offered, entertained.

"France?" Peter added.

"New Zealand?"

"Atlantis?"

"Uganda?"

"Canada?"

"Switzerland?" Josephine said.

"Yes, Switzerland!" James pointed at Josie. "And Pete, you do realize Atlantis isn't an actual place, right?"

"Yeah, well, New Zealand isn't either," Peter said begrudgingly.

"Wait, guys," Remus finally spoke, "I don't have a grandmother in Switzerland. Saying that my mum was sick was bad enough… But making up a whole new person? Can't we think of anything else?" He pleaded. He twisted his sweating bottle of cider in his hands, not meeting the eyes of his friends.

"I dunno, mate, I'm feeling the Swiss grandma," Sirius said after taking a swig of cider. It was obvious that Sirius knew exactly what he had just said, and the group sniggered.

"Yeah, I have to agree," James said, disregarding the fact that it was his idea, and raising his hand straight up to the ceiling. Sirius did the same, and Josie put her hand up too. Everyone looked at Peter, and he eventually put his hand up last.

Remus sighed, but he was smiling. "Fine."

"Good!" James exclaimed, delighted. "Third order of business… The Plan."

_Author's Note: Just to clarify- I do know that New Zealand is a proper place, and in fact, to prove it, I live there. :) _


	19. Chapter 19

NINETEEN

It was two o'clock in the morning on Saturday night and Josephine Swire lay reclined on the sofa in the Gryffindor common room, watching the portrait hole. It wasn't the offensive position she had imagined when she offered to help the Marauders on the full moon, she had to admit, but she shouldn't have expected better. She was still half a stranger to them, and it was asking enough for them to just trust her. The rest of Friday night had gone pretty smoothly – there was still one cider left in the six-pack when they had finished each of theirs, so they passed it around, sharing while they went over the roles of each person in the plan.

"Usually we leave one person behind in the common room to keep watch and cover for the absences," James had explained to Josie, "But now that you're here, that would be a good job for you."

Meanwhile, Remus would be upstairs in the Shrieking Shack, alone, because even with his friends' determination, they weren't stupid enough to enter the territory of a mindlessly wild werewolf on the full moon. Sirius, James and Peter would be at strategic positions surrounding the Shrieking Shack and varying distances to the castle. They had shards chipped off of the two-way mirrors that James and Sirius were given on leather strings around their necks, not big enough to see each other with, but big enough to use to talk to each other.

They each had wolfs bane torches with them, for the occurrence that Remus may break out of the Shrieking Shack and try to storm toward the castle. They would light them and try to steer him away. However, this was a near last priority option, as the light would attract the attention of whoever would be awake at this hour ("there's always one").

Josephine was impressed. She hadn't thought that the Marauders would have gone to such extensive measures, but then she reminded herself that they had been doing this for four or five years now. She was just dropping off to sleep, lulled by the crackle of the remaining fire, when the portrait hole squeaked open. It rebounded against the wall and the silhouette of a human form was edged out in the darkness.

"Josie! Josie, quick help me," James hissed, clearly strained for some reason. Josephine jumped up at the urgency of his voice and saw that James was carrying Peter over his shoulder.

"Holy shit," Josie breathed. They were both covered with blood, and half of Peter's shirt was missing, edged with frayed rips. There were bruises on his face, in a still-red slash on his left cheek, and his left eye was swollen shut. His skin was pale and his lips were red with the blood he was coughing up. As far as Josephine could tell, Peter was still unconscious, but he was moaning. She held the portrait hole open for James.

"No, no, we can't put him down here, it'll get blood everywhere and I've got to get back out there, we managed to knock Remus out for a while, poor guy, but Sirius is out there alone, and I don't have much time-" His voice rasped out the words, his voice dry, and despite his admirable courage, James was close to a breakdown.

"James, calm down, calm down." Josie whispered. "Let's get Peter to the hospital wing quickly and then you can run back out, I'll take care of the rest." She gently turned him around and they travelled as quickly as they could while staying quiet. Josie scouted the way and motioned to James when it was clear, and they were at the archway of the hospital wing within ten minutes. Josephine knocked quietly on the door, and said to James, "You should go now, I got this." She looked solemnly at the boy and James nodded. There was no time for 'thanks', and their mutual understanding was enough.

The door cracked open just as James ran off and the young head of Madame Pomfrey escaped the crack, her eyes immediately shooting to Peter on the floor.

"Oh Merlin," She said quietly, but in a concerned way. And then, wasting no time: "Come, help me bring him in… I wasn't expecting you until later tonight, and I was hoping not until morning. If I'm honest, I rather regret your questionable company if you keep bringing such carnage in your wake."

Josephine stood at the bedsides of Remus and Peter the next morning, leaving the two chairs to Sirius and James. Remus pulled together his eyebrows and Peter bit his lips, both somehow still looking troubled even in sleep. Josie didn't want to ask, neither did she want to know how the accident happened, and besides that, it didn't feel important anymore.

Madame Pomfrey, who had been warned of Josie's level of knowledge regarding Remus's lycanthropy, offered tea to the trio. They all declined, preferring the apathy of silence and tastelessness. The bruises on Peter's face had calmed with Madame Pomfrey's care, and his eye wasn't swollen anymore, just red. The bed sheets safely covered the angry gashes in his chest. Remus was a little better than him – he had a few deep scratches, but his ailment was mostly fatigue… _and guilt_, Josephine thought morosely, but not unsympathetically.

"It hasn't gotten this bad in a while," James whispered. Josie realized she hadn't completely taken into consideration how bad Remus's condition was. Seeing the violent damages on Peter had opened her eyes to that respect.

She was starting to consider going back up to the dorm room. Lily and Marlene were sure to be wondering where she was, and she was still wearing the same clothes as yesterday, while the boys had gotten cleaned up since then. Besides, she felt awkward standing in the midst of their contemplative misery.

Just as she was about to announce her leave, the doors of the hospital wing opened to reveal Dumbledore, who walked with a small smile toward the group. James and Sirius followed his steps with their sight, but didn't say anything. Dumbledore brought out from the folds of his robes the largest box of licorice wands that Josephine had ever seen.

"Mister Lupin's favourite, I believe," He broke the silence, setting the box down on the bedside table. No one responded, so he continued. "I'm terribly sorry to be bothering you with such terrible timing…" He nodded toward Sirius and James in turn, "But, alas, Miss Swire, would you care to accompany me in my office? We have something to discuss."


End file.
